Roger Clemens is coming off a 2003 season which may, arguably, be the second-best finale a pitcher ever had.

Roger Clemens is about to do something that very, very
few men in baseball history have managed to do: walk
away from the game with plenty left to give. Most
players do not get to choose when they leave; it is
mandated by time and the inevitable atrophying of
talent. Even the greatest tend to play a year or two
too long and Clemens is spitting into the gale force
that is human nature by hanging up his gun right now.
He is coming off a 2003 season which may, arguably, be
the second-best finale a pitcher ever had.

The Yankees shouldn't be surprised by Clemens' actions.

Sandy Koufax's 1966 campaign -- in which he set career
bests in wins and ERA (27-9, 1.73) -- is the undisputed
champion of finales. (If Albert Spalding, the sporting
goods magnate, hadn't inserted himself into a handful
of games in 1877, his 1876 finale would be up there as
well.) The big difference between Koufax and Clemens
is that Koufax was driven from the game by
excruciating pain in his pitching wing. 700 innings of
work including 54 complete games over the last two
seasons took a decided toll on his famous left arm.
Koufax was just 30 when he walked away from the game
and it is fun to wonder what would he could have
accomplished in the super pitching-friendly season
that came two years after he left. Since Bob Gibson
managed a 1.12 ERA that year, what might have Koufax
been able to achieve? The Dodgers were fairly mediocre
that year, so his won-loss record might not have been
eye-popping, but his other stats might have been
mind-boggling.

Clemens is older than Koufax by over a decade but is
not leaving for physical reasons. He clearly still has
much to offer and there is hope around the Yankees
camp that he will keep his options open by declaring
free agency instead of going on the retired list,
writes Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. The rules
state a retirement notification means he would have to
sit out a year while filing for free agency would
leave the door open for a return. In spite of protests
to the contrary.